OVERWHELMED by a spate of bombing incidents Afghanistan has witnessed in recent days, its President has chosen to give vent to his frustration by hurling highly uncalled-for recriminations at Pakistan, rather than admitting the failure of his government and the 70,000 NATO-led troops stationed in the country to control the situation. Afghanistan's militant phenomenon, he says, owes itself, lock, stock and barrel, to the machinations of Pakistan's military officials and intelligence outfits. Mr Hamid Karzai has not, perhaps, heard of the American conclusion about the suicide attack outside the Indian Embassy at Kabul, absolving Islamabad of any involvement, and, without any evidence, has blamed it for the massacre of 60 persons there. "The murder, killing, destruction, dishonouring and insecurity in Afghanistan is (sic) carried out by the intelligence administration in Pakistan," - is an accusation so devoid of reality that no serious watcher of the War on Terror in the region would pay heed to it. It does not befit either the head of a country where a large number of foreign forces are in occupation to challenge the will of a fiercely independent people to be free of alien control. One would have wished that Mr Karzai have had a look at a US newspaper report attributing the increase in GIs' casualties in the past two months to their decision to step into the Taliban strongholds where the allied forces had not dared enter during the past seven years, and avoided accusing Pakistan of the attack on an American base last week. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that the Afghan Pushtun's anger against the occupation forces in the country would find a responsive echo in Pakistan's tribal belt, also inhabited by Pushtuns who share close ties with co-ethnics across the border. Had it not been for Islamabad's efforts to curb, militarily if needed, their desire to join their Pushtun brethren in repelling the aggression, the security situation in the country would not have been so bad. Prime Minister Yousuf Reza Gilani has made the right move to convene a meeting of coalition partners to discuss the worsening situation and evolve a consensus approach to mend it. If there is presence of foreign militants in the tribal region and the danger of another 9/11, as he has stated, the coalition forum would be the best option for taking suitable countermeasures. It is hoped that President Karzai's statement that he was suspending the talks scheduled between Pakistan and his country was made in the heat of the moment and he would soon review the decision. There can be no better way of removing misunderstandings than peaceful discussion. Pakistan's repeated assurances that a stable, peaceful Afghanistan is in its interest are borne out by strategic realities and must be acknowledged.